Functional Freedom: Living Well with Parkinson's Disease

For Dave Cestaro, seeing his mother, Amelia, struggle with the onset of Parkinson’s disease was difficult. “My mother was becoming less mobile,” says Dave, “She needed assistance to get out of bed and do everyday tasks.”

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive disorder. The nervous system that affects movement and many times causes the development of debilitating shaking and instability. There is no cure for Parkinson’s and so, like many other families facing this diagnosis, Amelia’s began looking into nursing home facilities as a next step in her care.

Thankfully, Dave found Valley Home Care’s Functional Freedom program. Designed as a complete wellness program, Functional Freedom brings together physical, occupational, and speech therapies, medication management, nursing, and support to empower people with Parkinson’s disease.

“The latest research shows promise that comprehensive wellness programs that include exercise may have the ability to slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease,” says Karen Grant, Director of Rehabilitation Services at Valley Home Care. “With Functional Freedom, the patient’s symptoms are being addressed using a multi-disciplinary approach to help preserve their physical abilities.”

Dave arranged for a Valley Home Care physical therapist to visit his mother and see if the Functional Freedom regimen could help combat the onset of the disease’s symptoms. Trained in a nationally-recognized and evidence-based exercise program known as Delay the Disease™, Elena Kalika, Physical Therapist with Valley Home Care, worked with Amelia in her home for three months to help improve her balance and posture and address symptoms like rigidity and freezing.

Amelia was also provided with the complete wellness services of Functional Freedom like speech therapy, diet consultation, and nursing care. Throughout Amelia’s experience with the Functional Freedom program, Dave and his family noticed clear improvements in his mother’s ability to live independently.

“Calling my mother’s positive progress simply ‘a big difference’ would be an understatement,” says Dave. “Three months before we found Valley Home Care, we were trying to find my mother a nursing home - she was bedridden and couldn't feed herself. Now she is functioning and getting around on her own without a walker. It’s amazing.”

For more information about Functional Freedom provided through Valley Home Care, please call 201-291-6000.